Pinpoints of Light
by Ultra-Geek
Summary: Lives are made of moments, brief and flashing, like pinpoints of light in the dark. A collection of drabbles and ideas surrounding the crew of the USS Enterprise.
1. One Through Twelve

**Title:** Pinpoints of Lights  
**Author:** Ultra-Geek  
**Rating:** T  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, least of all the Star Trek franchise  
**Summary:** Lives are made of moments, brief and flashing, like pinpoints of light in the dark. A collection of drabbles and ideas surrounding the crew of the USS Enterprise.  
**AN:** Most of these are just little plot-bunnies that refused to be developed into decent length stories, so basically if there's any that anyone would like to see more of, let me know so I can work on it! Some of these are basically guaranteed to become one-shots…anyway. I digress. This is just going to basically be a dumping ground for my poor little plot-tribbles. Most of these are gonna be Bones-centric, just 'cause he's my favorite.

1)

Ambassador Spock watches the three figures from a distance. The first figure, blonde and charismatic, is waving his hands and speaking expressively with wide eyes and a wider mouth. The second is standing stick straight, arms at his sides, and tracking the blonde's movements with slight turns of his head. The third is facing away from the Ambassador with crossed arms, and Spock doesn't need to be able to see him to know that he's rolling his eyes. None of them notice that they're being observed.

They are so young. All so young. They have no idea what is coming. Spock can remember that. Before the wars and the missions and the deaths of friends. Before time traveling and disease and hopping through dimensions. They have no idea. But there's also the wonder of stepping on undiscovered worlds and sweeping victories and friendships that span lifetimes.

Spock smiles.

They have no idea.

2)

Kirk loved his chair on the bridge. It had speakers in the arm, the comm system built in, controls to the entire _ship_, and even a cup holder. Not to mention the lumbar support. He was sure that if it had had a label saying what it was made out of, it would read _100 percent friggin' AWESOME_. Or, at least, something to that effect.

And then the tribbles came.

Kirk loved the tribbles almost as much as his chair. Until one of said tribbles got on his chair. And left its little tribble hairs behind.

That was when Kirk knew the tribbles had to go.

3)

Sulu had driven cars. He'd rode bicycles, piloted shuttles, and steered boats. But nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to starships. And he knew exactly why.

It was the feeling that as you plummeted downwards, you were also soaring upwards at the exact same time. It was the weightlessness, the speed, the exhilaration at the order barked from the Captain, "Warp factor eight, Mr. Sulu!" and diving towards and away in the great unknown.

4)

"_Authorization is not recognized."_

Chekov sighed. "Ensign Authorization code: Nine-five-wictor-wictor-two."

"_Authorization is not recognized."_

A headache was building. "Ensign. Authorization. Code: Nine. Five. Wictor. Wictor. Two."

"_Authorization is not_ –"

"Recognize _this_, you _fucking_ computer!" Chekov yelled, swore in Russian several times loudly, and slammed his fists down repeatedly and rapidly onto the console.

The bridge was silent. Chekov felt heat rising in his cheeks as everyone stared at him. Then the console flickered to life. _"Authorization recognized_," came the answer in a rather feeble voice.

5)

The lift's door slid open, and the bridge fell ominously silent. Sulu looked at Chekov, who looked back at him, and then both turned their attention to the figure standing in the entrance to the bridge. Uhura sighed, and shook her head. Spock raised an eyebrow, and then pointed silently at the door of Kirk's ready room.

McCoy nodded once, and pulled the out the hypospray. He strode determinedly across the room and stood against the wall next to the door. He nodded once at Spock.

"Captain," the first officer called. "The doctor has left."

The room's door slid open. "Thank God! I've been dodging him for a _week_," Kirk said with a grin. The door closed. McCoy cleared his throat. Kirk paled slightly and turned. "Bones, hey! When I said 'dodging', I meant – _OW!"_

It would be days before the smirk left McCoy's face.

6)

McCoy stumbled out of the sickbay, and he staggered forward a few steps before coming to a halt. His eyes burned and his head throbbed. He blinked slowly, looking first to the right and then to the left. McCoy couldn't decide which way led to his quarters. God, he was tired. He was so fucking tired that all he could do was stand there and not decide anything.

Five seconds, or minutes, or hours, or days, maybe even five years, later McCoy came to the decision that he really needed to make a decision. But he still couldn't really figure out which way led to his quarters, and his bed was in his quarters, and he just wanted to sleep. And then his legs started to shake and McCoy didn't need to be a doctor to know what was coming next.

Sitting, then. Sitting was good.

His legs folded up beneath him. But just as that beautiful, beautiful floor was rising up to meet him, there was something clamping around his arm and hauling him to his feet. McCoy muttered a few expletives – he was so tired, muttering was the loudest he was going to get – and weakly tried to tug his arm away from whoever was keeping him from sitting. Good God, the entire corridor was spinning now…

"Easy, there, Bones," – so Jim was responsible for the whole not sitting thing – "I got you."

_Dammit Jim_, he wanted to snap, _I'm a doctor, not a goddamned charity case. I don't need your help. Just point me in the right direction and I'll do the rest._

What came out was a pitiful, "Can I sit down?"

Jim chuckled slightly. "I'll never get you back up again," and then McCoy could hear the serious expression settle over the captain's face. "You look awful. When's the last time you slept?"

"Right after I ate."

"And when was that?"

"Uh…before I slept…"

"Okay, c'mon," Jim said, and began guiding McCoy to the right. The doctor just let himself be towed along; at least someone knew where his quarters were. "You're going to sleep now."

McCoy only hummed an answer. The walls passed in blurs that bled and spun together. And then suddenly he was in his quarters, sitting on his bed with his boots getting pulled off. After that, without quite realizing when or how, he was lying down with a blanket getting settled over him. "Goodnight, Bones," Jim said.

McCoy didn't hear; he was already asleep.

7)

Kirk really didn't care what anyone said about it. The golden shirt was definitely heavier than the Starfleet Cadet's uniform.

8)

Everyone gossiped on the _Enterprise_. It was astounding how fast after, say, someone got drunk and danced on a table where there was only one other crew member present, that the entire ship knew. The whole crew knew who had plentiful stashes of scotch (Scotty), who to go for if you needed dating advice (Kirk, obviously), and who to go to if you had an honest-to-God problem that needed a reasonable answer (Spock).

The one thing that everyone had trouble getting a pin on was who was sleeping with who. Everyone, that is, except for Doctor McCoy. After all, every single one of them contracted some manner of disease that could only be transmitted through…well. You know.

And sometimes, on gamma shift when there was no activity in sickbay, the doctor could be found sitting with datapads surrounding him. If asked, he would say that he was researching some sort of medical advancement or something of the sort. In reality, he was playing a game he affectionately called Match the STD.

9)

They were on a planet that's entire culture rotated on fashions of clothing. People seized power through new designs, new fads, and basically who had the sparkliest shirt. "Gentlemen," Kirk said with a wide smirk, "Set your phasers to _stunning_!"

Spock's eyebrow disappeared right into his hairline.

10)

"It's life, Jim," Spock called from his station. "Just not as we know it."

Kirk sighed. "Is that all you can say?" he asked, and turned to look at McCoy. "Is that all he can say?"

"I don't know," McCoy answered, waving a hand absently and staring the datapad in front of him. "I'm a doctor, not an analyst."

Kirk had absolutely no response.

11)

"I'm sorry, but I think that I misheard you," Uhura said, watching Kirk's face closely. "What is it that you say they turned Spock into?"

"Um," Kirk rubbed the back of his head. "Bones said he was a horned toad."

"And I have to…?"

"According to what the local shaman said, he has to be kissed by a, uh, a significant other in order to return to his, um, normal condition."

12)

McCoy really didn't know how it happened, but one minute he was walking to Sickbay for his shift and the next he was flying up and slamming into the ceiling. The lights flickered and sirens blared. He was tossed into a wall like a doll, and the air was forced from his lungs with an _oof_.

Then he crashed into the floor, the lights turned back on, and it was quiet as if nothing had happened. McCoy lay still, muttering muffled "damn it"s into the floor. He pushed himself to his feet and limped as quickly as he could manage to Sickbay. He staggered through the door to find the area deserted. It took only several more minutes to determine that he was the only one there.

McCoy stood in the center of the room. He rubbed his head, and then moved slowly to the nearest Comm screen. "Sickbay to Bridge," he said. "This is Sickbay to Bridge."

No answer.

He frowned. Well, wasn't that just a fan-fricking-tastic sign? "This is Sickbay to Bridge. Any one there? McCoy to the Bridge."

Still nothing.

McCoy felt a stone settling in his stomach. "Computer," he said, deciding on a new tact. "Location of Captain Kirk."

"Captain Kirk is not aboard the _Enterprise_," chimed the much too cheery voice.

He gritted his teeth. "Computer, location of Commander Spock."

"Commander Spock is not aboard the _Enterprise_."

"Mr. Sulu?"

"Lieutenant Sulu is not aboard the _Enterprise_."

"Scott."

"Montgomery Scott is not –"

"Yeah, I get it." McCoy said. He ran his hand through his hair. He cursed. He cursed again. Then, he cursed a third time just for good measure. Then, he came up with his third plan. "Computer, report all Starfleet members aboard the _Enterprise_."

It was quiet as the computer scanned. "Number of Starfleet members aboard _Enterprise_: one. Location of Starfleet members aboard Enterprise: Sickbay. Name of Starfleet member aboard _Enterprise_: Doctor Lieutenant Commander Leonard Horatio McCoy, Chief Medical Officer."

"I'm the only one on the _whole damn ship_?"

"Affirmative."

McCoy took the opportunity to throw an innocent hypo against a wall and bellow at nothing in particular.


	2. Thirteen Through Twentyone

**Title:** Pinpoints of Lights  
**Author:** Ultra-Geek  
**Rating:** T  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, least of all the Star Trek franchise  
**Summary:** Lives are made of moments, brief and flashing, like pinpoints of light in the dark. A collection of drabbles and ideas surrounding the crew of the USS Enterprise.  
**AN:** 21 was born of a desire to make Spock say the word 'jiggles'.

13)

"Oh, Bo-_ones_!" Jim sing-songed as he barged in through the Sickbay door, "I have a _surprise_ for _you_!"

McCoy looked over at Chapel as she glanced up at him. "God help us," he muttered.

"Us?" Chapel snorted. "Help you, you mean. I'm out of here."

As she hurried away in the opposite direction McCoy sighed to steady himself, then turned to face the grinning captain. "What'd'you want, Jim?"

"You'll never guess what I've been doing!" Kirk answered, his smile stretching bigger. "But you should, anyway."

"Should what?"

"Guess!"

"No."

Kirk's smile deflated slightly. Then he brightened again, making McCoy even more wary about whatever Jim was about to announce. "I'll just tell you, if you're going to be such a party pooper. I've been looking through the personnel files to, you know, _familiarize_ myself with the crew. And guess what I found?"

"I'm not guessing."

"Whatever," Jim waved a hand excitedly. "Anyway, I came across your file. And you want to know what I've learned?"

"It's my file, Jim. I already know everything in there."

"But I didn't! And, and now I know," Jim said, and paused.

McCoy was anything but happy with the vaguely maniacal overtones that the captain's grin had taken. Dread stirred in his stomach. "Just out with it."

"I know what the H stands for in Leonard H. McCoy," Kirk said, and laughed evilly. "Man, how warped were your parents to saddle you with that one!"

"Drop it."

"I won't drop it, _Horatio_."

"Shut up, _Tiberius_."

"Touché."

14)

"So, let me get this straight," Kirk said. "Khan is evil, but I haven't met him yet. When I do, he's going to be psycho and try to take over the world and kill people. If I get catapulted into an alternate dimension, I'll know 'cause you'll – the alternate you, or, um, alternate-alternate you – will have a beard?"

The older version of Spock – Future-Spock, as Kirk referred to him in private – nodded. "Also, keep in mind that, under no circumstances, should you allow tribbles on board the _Enterprise_."

"Why?" Kirk asked, blinking. "What's wrong with tribbles?"

Future-Spock blinked. "Trust me, Captain, when I tell you that you should not allow tribbles on board the _Enterprise,_" he said seriously, a look that vaguely resembled horror deep in his old eyes. Kirk could only nod his agreement. Future-Spock continued, "Then, Captain, in the event that a woman beams aboard the ship and precedes to…maybe you should be recording what I am telling you?"

"What? Oh, yeah, right," Kirk said, and pulled out a data pad, entering the information that Future-Spock had already told him, and then looked up. "Okay, what were you saying?"

"In the event that a woman beams aboard the ship and proceeds to steal my young counterpart's brain, be sure that Doctor McCoy is with the landing party so that he may use a super computer to gain the knowledge to surgically replace my brain in its rightful place."

Kirk squinted at the half-Vulcan. "Now you're just shitting me."

Future-Spock's mouth curled into a small smile. "I assure you, I am not 'shitting' you. And on the subject of the good doctor, in the majority of cases it is best to keep him far from any species with psychic abilities. Even if said species is Vulcan, it is probably best to make sure that he is not left alone."

"Why do…" Kirk trailed off, and shook his head. "Nevermind. I probably don't want to know."

"Now, moving on to things concerning myself. There is something that my young self will not tell you, but I feel it is very important that you know about it. It's called pon farr…"

15)

When Kirk was called down to the corridor outside Sickbay – not _Sickbay_, but the actual hall outside – the last thing he expected was to find a crowd of people standing in the way of the door. "Okay, I'm here, what's the problem?"

Scotty pointed at the door. "We think tha' Doctor McCoy's gone a wee bit mad, Captain. An' I mean more than he usually is."

Kirk shouldered through the crowd, and as soon as they realized that he was, in fact, the captain, they parted like the Red Sea before Moses. Posted on the door was a piece of paper. Not a digital message, but an honest-to-God piece of paper taped to the door. Only Bones. Kirk leaned forward to read the chicken scratch writing.

_Attention Morons:_

_There are new rules to Sickbay. _

_One, you come in here when ordered here. You drop whatever the hell you are doing and run like hell, 'cause you'll have about ten minutes before Security comes for your sorry ass._

_Two, if you don't follow rule one and you injure yourself in your stupid, moronic ways, you can just stay out and fucking bleed on the floor until you drop dead. If you can't come for a vaccination, you don't need to come to stop whatever stupid thing you've done to yourself. Go to Science. Maybe they can help._

_Three, if you hit on a nurse, she now has permission to hit you or find someone to do it for her. Yes, Kirk, this means you too._

_Four, don't bother coming if you ate something bright orange while planetside. If your stupidity doesn't kill you this time, it will next time, so stop wasting my fucking time._

_All personnel must sign a contract agreeing to these rules, or you won't be allowed in my Sickbay. Deal with it. Morons._

_Doctor McCoy_

Kirk sighed, and stuck his head through the door cautiously. "Hey, Bones?"

"Are you gonna sign the contract?" came the growled reply.

"Uh, no, but you can't –" Kirk broke off in a strangled yelp as a hypospray ricocheted off of the wall next to his head.

16)

Everyone has a breaking point. The day had been, to say the least, stressful. After all, a planet was destroyed, a villain from the future defeated, fights won, Earth saved, and alternate timelines discovered. Chekov sat, numb and thoughtless, staring at his hands folded in his lap.

Sulu had at some point collapsed into the chair next to him. The pilot appeared just as overwhelmed as the navigator. With a deep breath, Chekov turned to face his friend. "It could haff been vorse," he said. Sulu looked up, waiting for him to continue. Chekov forced a smile that he knew looked stretched and pained. "_Ve_ could haff died, yes?"

Sulu's face stretched into a grin, and both collapsed into uncontrollable giggles. Eventually, the laughter turned to tears, but Sulu just slung an arm around Chekov shoulders as they both shook.

17)

The thing about Bones is that he never left. Kirk had showed up in the small hours of the morning more times than he could remember – he had a sneaking suspicion, though, that Bones kept a tally somewhere – beaten and bruised and wasted, looking for the doctor to patch him up. Almost every time, Kirk had half expected the door to slam in his face as an answer, and every time, he was surprised to be pulled in among a tirade of curses and profanities. And Bones never kicked him out. They fought, and poked, and needled at each other and sometimes Jim worried that one day Bones would just get fed up and leave. But after everything with Nero, he'd lost that nagging doubt that Bones would leave. He came to the conclusion that no matter what he did Bones would just always be there, lurking in the shadows with a hypo and a lecture.

But he was wrong.

They fought. But they'd always _fought._ But then Kirk got stupid, and said that stupid, stupid something, and Bones had gone all stiff and silent before turning and sweeping from the room…

What scared Jim the most – not even scared, really, but completely terrified him – was that he really, truly believed that Bones wasn't going to come back this time.

18)

The transporter flared. Scotty frowned. He hadn't beamed anyone up, nor was the controls picking up any signals. Then he saw what was standing, panting, on the pad.

Scotty's eyes narrowed. "_Beagle_," he hissed.

The dog barked loudly and growled.

"This time, ye wee beasty," Scotty said, and picked up a phaser, flicking it to stun, "This time, we're at war. An' you are nae gonna escape from Scotty again!"

19)

It had somehow snuck on board. Kirk was fed up with with entities who wished little good will towards the Federation magically appearing on his ship. Really. Wasn't this supposed to be the best ship in the fleet? Weren't its crewmen the best that the Federation had to offer? Wasn't the security systems top of the line? It begged the question: how the hell did bad guys keep beaming on his ship?

It took a while, but soon Kirk, Spock, and McCoy – and, on the subject of unanswerable questions, why was it always the three of them confronting shit? Seriously! – had the alien cornered down in one of the auxiliary power rooms. It was beautiful. Kirk really didn't have any other word to describe it. Long, iridescent tentacles swayed quietly from its back, and it stood nearly seven feet tall. But there were something about its eyes that was just sad. It looked lonely. Spock was muttering quietly about how it was an Udolian, and highly dangerous, and something about psychic communications, when the Udolian's tragic eyes locked on Spock.

Both were immobile for several tense moments. Then Spock _roared_ before collapsing onto the floor. As Bones went to his knees to hold the now convulsing Spock still, Kirk open fired. He'd never been so repulsed by beauty in his life.

20)

There were a surplus of McCoys. Kirk figured that he should at least be comforted by the fact they were only coming in from Dimension number whatever, but still. He was beginning to get frustrated. Kirk just wanted his Bones back, not some alternate-Bones. But, at the same time, he was rather impressed. All of McCoy's counterparts kept appearing to be undeniably badass. Or evil. Several had to be restrained.

Kirk sighed, and drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair in impatience. All he could do was sit and wait for a new Bones. And it had been a while since the last one – a man who went by the name of John Grimm – had been whipped abruptly from the _Enterprise_ to places unknown.

"_Um, Engineerin' to the Bridge."_

"Engineering, this is the Bridge," Kirk answered immediately, pouncing on the Comm button. "What's up, Scotty?"

Scotty's answer was drowned out by what could only be described as a _neigh_. Kirk blinked once. Then, he blinked again. Kirk frowned and glanced up. "Did anyone else just…?"

"I believe that sounded like the earth species _Equus caballus_," Spock said in what he obviously believed to be a helpful manner. Kirk's frown just deepened. Spock sighed. "A horse, Captain."

Kirk nodded. "So I'm not imagining things?"

"No, Captain."

He nodded once before pressing the intercom button. "Mr. Scott," Kirk said. "Is there a horse on my ship?"

A hesitation, and then, "_Aye_,"

"May I ask why there is a horse on my ship?"

"_Well, sir,"_ Scotty said. "_Near as I can tell, the newest Doctor rode it in."_

"Another one?!"

"_Aye. He's been here abou' ten minutes, Captain. I dinnae tell ye right away, because we were nae sure it was another Doctor McCoy._"

"And why is that?"

"_He is on a _horse_, Captain,_" Scotty's voice was incredulous, "_We had ta catch him first. An' he had a bloody sword, an' a helmet, an' he's _blonde_, and now we've got him cornered, bu' he keeps yellin' abou' witchcraft an' wizardry an' wavin' the sword –"_

"I get the picture," Kirk said, even though he did not. "I'm on my way down."

It promised to be a long day.

21)

Spock poked the Jello with his spoon suspiciously. "It…_jiggles_."

"Aye."

"It moves as if possessing independent thought."

"Aye."

"And, Mr. Scott, there are very few things in the universe that are naturally this particular shade of purple. Of those things, even fewer are edible."

"That sounds about right, Mr. Spock."

"And, yet, I am expected to eat this?"

Kirk sat with a thump. "No, you're not," he told Spock. "You're expected to slurp it."

Scotty smirked. Spock raised an eyebrow. Kirk demonstrated, and then vanished as abruptly as he appeared.

"Fascinating," Spock said, but still seemed unable to bring himself to eat the Jello. Several minutes passed, and then Spock looked up. "It is still moving," Spock said, eyeing the Jello warily.

"Aye, it does that."

"Does it ever desist?"

"I donnae think so."

"But, Mr. Scott," Spock said, eyebrow raised once more, "that defies several of the laws of physics."

"Aye," said Scotty sagely, "that it does, Mr. Spock, that it does."


End file.
